o you want a topic that is sure to start a conversation at your next
party, family dinner, holiday gathering or study hall? Ask people
to tell you about their favorite—or least favorite—advertise-
ments. Everyone will have a story to tell. That’s because ads—whether
they’re busy informing, entertaining, persuading or simply selling
something—are hard to forget and impossible to ignore. And they work.
In fact, U.S. teenage consumers spend billions of dollars each year.
Most student publications owe their existence, at least in part, to
advertising sales. It makes sense, therefore, for everyone on a publica-
tion’s staff, not just the business people, to spend some time learning
about the complex world of advertising. Student journalists should have
both a professional and a personal interest in learning about advertising.
This chapter will focus on four elements of the trade: the message, the
media, the makeup and the management.THE MESSAGE
Volney B. Palmer opened the first U.S. advertising agency in
Philadelphia in 1841. Even if Palmer was a visionary, he could never have
anticipated the billions of dollars that U.S. advertisers spend each year.
You may not realize it, but you are exposed to thousands of ads a day. By
age 18, chances are you will have seen more than 350,000 commercials.
Jean Kilbourne, an internationally known media critic, describes the
power of ads: “They sell values, images, and concepts of success and
worth, love and sexuality, popularity and normalcy. They tell us who we
are and who we should be. Sometimes they sell addiction.” Kilbourne
may be right. According to the Center of Media Literacy, students can list
more brands of beer than names of U.S. presidents.The Power of the Message
Persuasion to buy is only one part of advertising, though. In fact,
advertising performs a myriad of services that benefit both individuals
and society. Advertising keeps down the cost of newspapers, magazines,
radio and television, making them affordable and accessible to moreADVERTISING^377
D
After completing this chapter, you will be able to:- recognize a variety of advertising appeals,
- learn the key principles for the layout and design of ads,
- organize a sales staff.
In this chapter, you will learn
the meaning of these terms:
public service ad
advertising appeal
propaganda
account executive
copywriter
classified ad
display ad
body copy
logo
slogan
picture-window
format
copy-heavy format
tool line
type-specimen format
circus format
multipanel format
cost analysis
mock-up ad; spec ad
tearsheet